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TV Stretches Limits of Taste, to Little Outcry

Like a child acting outrageously naughty to see how far he can push his parents, mainstream television this season is flaunting the most vulgar and explicit sex, language and behavior that it has ever sent into American homes. And as sometimes happens with the spoiled child, the tactic works: attention is being paid.

Ratings are high, few advertisers are rebelling against even the most provocative shows, and more and more parents seem to have given up resisting their children in squabbles over television. Often, in a nation of two-income families and single parents, children are left alone to watch whatever they want.

This season's stretching of the boundaries of taste has reignited opposition from some public figures who have long complained about television's influence on what they call family values. And some teachers and school principals have sent notes home, warning parents about certain shows, like the cartoon ''South Park.'' But the outcry seems fainter and less widespread than it has in the past.

''South Park,'' the most popular show on cable, features four dirty-talking third graders who poison Granddad, promote a boxing match between Jesus and Satan, and converse with a talking pile of stool called ''Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.''

On the hottest new show among teen-agers, WB's prime-time drama ''Dawson's Creek,'' one of the lead characters, a high school boy, had a sexual affair with his English teacher; another boy, a football star, was mocked by some girls for being impotent.

''The Jerry Springer Show,'' a daytime talk show that has cranked up its formula of sexual betrayal followed by fisticuffs, has begun to challenge ''Oprah,'' the queen of the genre, for the No. 1 ranking in daytime viewership. And it has grown so popular with teen-agers that MTV featured two ''Jerry Springer Break'' shows on its annual spring-break weekend in March.

After ''South Park,'' the two most popular series on cable are professional wrestling, which appeal to children as much as to adults. Half the top 30 programs on cable during the first quarter this year were wrestling; the two wrestling series rank among the top six favorite cable shows of teen-agers.

And last week Howard Stern, the most infamous of the radio ''shock-jocks,'' announced that he would begin a late-night television version of his show on CBS stations to compete with ''Saturday Night Live,'' starting in August.

''I'd say there's been a quantum leap downward this year in terms of adolescent, vulgar language and attempts to treat sexuality in shocking terms,'' said Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. ''People used to complain that television was aimed at the mind of a 12-year-old. Now it seems aimed at the hormones of a 14-year-old.''

Tomorrow, at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Nev., Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, and William Bennett, the conservative Republican commentator and lobbyist, plan to speak out, as they did two years ago, to condemn sexually lurid talk shows. They will urge station owners to drop ''The Jerry Springer Show'' in particular and to adopt a voluntary ''code of conduct'' enabling stations to collaborate in restricting vulgar programming without fear of losing a competitive edge.

''If they need an exemption from antitrust prosecution for that, I bet it would fly through both houses of Congress,'' Mr. Lieberman said.

But interviews with parents around the country last week suggested that many families are not as acutely distressed about television vulgarity as Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Bennett are.

Some parents say their children, raised in a multiple-channel universe, are savvy enough about television not to be overly influenced by it. Some argue that real-life issues and foul language confront children anyway.

''I don't think parents have given up caring, but they've almost given up fighting,'' Mr. Lichter said. ''Popular culture is so ubiquitous it's almost impossible to combat. It's like the weather, everyone complains about it but no one does anything.''

Television is not alone in the liberal use of sexual content. In music, four-letter words and sexual bravado are common, not only in rap but also in mainstream rock. Even the most popular movie of the year, ''Titanic,'' which was seen by millions of children, had a scene in which the female lead appeared topless.

Network executives tend to dispute that anyone is deliberately pushing the envelope of pop-culture propriety to attract viewers. Stations and cable operators make the calls on what is acceptable fare, and they say television reflects the culture, which has grown more permissive, and that the provocative themes in certain shows arise from isolated circumstances. Among the explanations offered:

*''Dawson's Creek'' is on WB, a network whose avowed business strategy is to appeal to teen-age and young-adult audiences more than other networks do.

*''The Jerry Springer Show'' has grown more violent and has seen Nielsen ratings grow, but no single network is responsible because the show is sold in syndication, station by station.

*Pro wrestling has long been popular, but now there is competition between the World Wrestling Federation (on USA) and World Championship Wrestling (on TNT), which has led to dueling levels of viciousness in the staged bouts.

Some of the bouts between Jerry Springer's guests are obviously staged, too, and have become a cult attraction for college students, as evidenced by his appearance on MTV, where research into the tastes of teen-agers and young adults is minutely detailed, intensive and constant.

Mr. Springer's MTV shows included one in which a young man and woman told the woman's boyfriend that they were sleeping together (the two men got into a fistfight), and one where the host offered people $1 to do kinky things like dance naked in front of the audience (with appropriate blurring to make the segment suitable for television).

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''The rationale was, he's very much of the moment and has a much younger audience than anyone thought,'' said Judy McGrath, president of MTV. ''He's someone our viewers are talking about. And these were college students, not high school, and spring break is a college bacchanalian experience.''

College students are the target audience for ''South Park,'' too. Comedy Central schedules it at 10 P.M. with a TV-MA rating (not for viewers under 18), but many children and adolescents watch it.

Drew Skillman, a 17-year-old in Bellevue, Wash., argued that ''South Park'' has an original and even sophisticated political humor that adults may miss. He likes the way it makes racist, ethnic and sexist jokes indiscriminately.

''It breaks the politically correct rules that are all over TV right now,'' he said. ''My friends and I, it's not like we want to be racist or anything, but they poke fun at everybody. It's refreshing, it's no-holds-barred.''

Younger boys like it for simpler reasons: the flatulence jokes. Those jokes ''really made me laugh because it was so in tune with my son,'' said Janet Ceja-Orozco of El Cerrito, Calif., who has an 11-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. She said she was far more concerned that so many of her children's friends watch ''Jerry Springer.'' Her school district has a year-round system, with three-week breaks scattered through the year; many children are home alone in the daytime.

''My kids and their friends are all talking about it,'' she said. ''They know what time it's on in the morning, and that it's repeated late at night, and they tell me their friends stay up to watch it. I think it's awful, these people beating each other up all the time and the sexual stuff -- 'my husband slept with my best friend' -- but they do watch it. Then we talk about it. We talk about how low people can go.''

Indeed, some parents said a consoling factor about the sexually explicit shows is the opportunity they provide to talk about such subjects.

On a recent episode of ''Dawson's Creek,'' some girls made fun of a football player by spreading the word that he ''couldn't fertilize a garden'' and ''gets a soft spot for the ladies -- in a very unfortunate location.''

Jamie Kellner, president of the WB Network, said parents should be realistic.

''It's the way high school kids actually do talk to each other,'' he said. ''You can watch with your kids and be let in and learn about it, or you can hide from it, but this world exists and your kids are into it.''

He also emphasized that the show's hero, Dawson, ''is a virgin who has chosen not to have sex, who is also anti-drug and anti-smoking, and believes marriage is a sacred institution.''

But what of Pacey, the young man who had an affair with his teacher? Mr. Kellner said the episode ultimately sent a positive message because the teacher lost her job and Pacey was ostracized at school.

Whether it matches most high school students' experience or not, ''Dawson's Creek'' has captured their attention. Since its debut on Jan. 20, it has vaulted to the No. 2 spot among teen-agers, behind ''The Simpsons,'' on Fox.

In Seattle, one group of 15-year-olds has a ''Dawson's Creek''-watching party each Tuesday, despite the reluctance of their parents.

''We tried to put the kibosh on it,'' said Nancy Stokley, whose daughter has had friends over to watch it and has gone to others' homes. ''We said, 'Hey, this is a school night, you know, this is ridiculous.' But they are all quite into it. It has hit a nerve.''

Carol Orme-Jackson, of Cambridge, Mass., also found out through a reporter's inquiries that her 14-year-old daughter watches ''Dawson's Creek'' at friends' houses. Ms. Orme-Jackson said she was not worried by the talk about sex per se, but ''that this kind of trashy life style becomes glamourized.''

Some parents say children learn to idolize the wrong sorts of people and life styles. Others say children know the difference between reality and the fictional world of television.

Some experts worry that young people will be desensitized to meanness and sexual risks. Michael Cohen, a developmental psychologist and partner in a New York City research firm, Arc Consulting, shares that concern but said not enough research has been done to draw conclusions.

But many parents today believe battling with their children about television is almost pointless, given the antisocial humor, foul language and sexual innuendo young people hear everywhere else.

''It's part of life,'' said Katherine Mahoney, a mother of two teen-agers in Cambridge, Mass. ''I'm of the notion that life is a soap opera.''